| |
Neither Charles’s grandparents nor most women in town appeared to be surprised when it became public that Joy and Charles were now officially courting.
Several of the younger women were disappointed and saddened, but deep inside they had known it all along too.
At first, Joy asked Charles several times whether there was another girl somewhere or if he had a fiancé or wife, but Charles understood and assured her that he was free and his heart only beat for her.
He stayed in the barn and with her knowing about it, he didn’t have to leave in the early hours of the morning and could take his time.
Despite the happy outcome regarding their relationship, everyone in town was on high alert. Nobody had forgotten about the danger that was still out there.
Grace and Reverend Gregory spend most of their time at the cabin to not give anyone the excuse to spread rumors about the young couple. They were over the moon that their grandson had finally found someone, and someone so perfect for him.
It kept getting colder, which encouraged the community of Elkhorn to get ready for winter. Charles and his grandfather prepared firewood and filled the sheds behind the cabin and the church, and women everywhere stocked their cupboards and cellars with nonperishable foods.
It was never known when winter would start, so preparedness was everything. Grace showed Joy a few new recipes, and she enjoyed her time with her grandmotherly friend.
The older woman insisted on Joy calling her Nana now, even though, the young woman kept telling her that she was not part of the family. Grace’s response was that it would not be long before she would be.
A telegram from her sister reached her finally, letting Joy know that Alice and the girls were safe and that Dylan was a remarkable husband and father. It lifted Joy’s spirit immensely.
Heavy rain during the following few days, turned everything in a mud bath, but Joy absolutely adored the cabin and looked forward to spending each day with the Gregory family.
When the sun finally came out again, and began drying the ground and plants, Joy enjoyed going on walks and horseback rides.
Charles had shown her a beautiful waterfall, just a few miles into the forest, and promised her he would take her to see his favorite lake and waterfall on top of the mountain when the weather was good enough to go. Joy could have been so happy, if it wasn’t for the danger that was still out there.
Knowing that something could happen at any given moment, settled on her disposition like a dark, heavy cloud.
Joy’s least favorite chore was washing clothes. Lucky for her, an outside stove with a large pot helped ease that burden.
Charles filled the pot with water, and she soaked the clothes in a different container overnight. The next morning, she started a fire and added soap and starch and stirred the clothing items until it was time to rinse it off with cold water. A clothing line, from the cabin to the barn, allowed her to hang it up to dry.
One day, while she was hanging up her clothes, a crow landed on the ground not far from her. The bird was watching her, and Joy glanced at him suspiciously.
Sure enough, not long after she had hung up several clothes, the bird hopped around before opening his wings and flying around Joy a few times before landing on the clothing line, clasping one of the clothespins with his beak and flew away, landing on a tree branch nearby.
The skirt was too heavy to be held by only one clothespin and dropped into the dirt below. Joy scolded the bird and called for him to drop the stolen pin, but he wouldn’t do it, just kept gawking at her. When he finally dropped the clothespin, and Joy hurried over to retrieve it, the crow flew back to the clothes line to steal another pin.
He kept repeating that, but after the third piece of clothing ended up in the dirt, Joy had enough, took down all her wet clothes and put it back in the basket before taking it inside.
She then came back outside and took down the clothing line and brought it also into the cabin, and then turned the spare bedroom into a drying room.
Not long after, Charles and his grandparents arrived to have breakfast with Joy. Slightly embarrassed that nothing was ready yet, she rushed into the kitchen and began the preparations.
Grace noticed the open door to the spare bedroom with the clothing line and hung up clothes and cleared her throat.
“What happened?”
Joy shook her head, a little frustrated. “I tried to hang up my freshly washed clothes outside, but a crow kept stealing my clothespins, and now I have to wash three of my skirts again.”
Charles grinned at his grandmother, who in returned winked at him, but did not laugh about it. Joy faced the young man and there was irritation in her eyes.
“That’s not funny, Charles,” she scolded. “Now I have to wash it again and, it is a lot of work.”
Before he had the chance to say something in return, his grandmother embraced Joy.
“It is a lot of work. Why don’t you go outside and wash what the crow caused to drop in the dirt, and I prepare breakfast?”
Joy looked into the eyes of the older woman, a small smile lighting up her face. “Are you sure?”
“I am,” Grace said and chuckled when Joy hugged her tight before rushing out the door.
“Thank you, Nana,” Joy called out and was out of sight a moment later. Charles followed her.
“There is no need for you to follow me just so you can laugh at me some more.”
“I never laughed, I grinned, and who said I followed you to make fun of you? Perhaps I just want to steal a kiss.” He watched her amused, her cheeks blushing at once.
“Is that so?” she responded in the same playful tone, while ignoring her heated face. “Well, I say you don’t deserve a kiss after your hurtful behavior inside.”
Charles nearly laughed out loud. She was adorable when she teased him, but her playful scolding did not impress him one bit. He reached for her hand and pulled her straight into his muscular arms.
“Charles, this is not fair,” she resisted right away and tried to loosen his grip, but he was too strong for her, lifted her chin and pressed a passionate kiss on her lips that took her breath away. He finally pulled back, but only a little, his lips still close to hers.
“I know you don’t mean that,” he whispered, his voice a little raspy now. “You love it when I kiss you.”
Knowing quite well she had no defense against him and his kisses, she pulled him back to her lips, melting into his arms at the same time. There was no denying it, she was fully and unconditionally in love with that man.
One morning, while Joy was getting ready for the day, anxiety settled in her stomach. Something felt off. The weather was also gloomy with rain on and off.
As she was getting ready to start breakfast preparations, several loud explosions, somewhere nearby, shook the cabin. She gasped, before opening the door and looking around in a panic. Not again.
She saw smoke above the trees, coming from the direction of the post office, and was about to run toward it, when Charles grabbed her around her waist, holding her back. He had just come out of the barn.
“We have to go and help. This isn’t a good sign,” she called out, her face as white as a bedsheet.
“I know, but if it means what we think it does, you can’t just go running toward what might be a trap. You have to keep a cool head.”
“But if someone is injured or, worse, killed?”
“Elkhorn has been on high alert because we were expecting something would happen. They’ll split into groups if necessary to take care of the fire and assist us if needed.”
“I should have known you’d be with her, Gregory,” a deep voice called out, and when Joy and Charles turned around, they found themselves face to face with Thatcher and Nigel Norton. They were only a few feet away from them, still on their horses, but Joy noticed a few men nearby. She gasped.
“Well, not everyone is a criminal and liar like you, Norton,” Charles shot back, a deadly stare hit the other man. “I took an oath when I became a lawyer, and I made a promise to Max Collins when he hired me. I tend to keep those promises.”
“What do you want, Jonas, I mean Thatcher?” Joy called out, giving him a withering glance herself. He scoffed.
“You know what we want.”
“I don’t. I know you betrayed my father and had him murdered and want to kill me too for some reason, but I am still not sure why. I mean, you can’t think we seriously believe the reason you had my father killed was because two of your brothers were executed. The likes of you don’t care about anyone but yourself and so losing two brothers while power and money are part of the game means nothing to you,” Joy spat out, her disdain obvious.
“You don’t even know what you are talking about.” Jonas shook his head.
“I know more than you might think. The fact that John didn’t hesitate in ratting out his uncle to get him out of the way, just so there was one less man to pay out when he would find the money and gold his father had stolen, says it all. How did you find me?”
Thatcher and Nigel exchanged a vicious grin. “That wasn’t hard. Since we knew Charles would hide you somewhere, we paid his aunt and uncle a visit. You’d be surprised what good old torture will do to a person. They will tell you anything.”
Joy felt the blood drain from her face. “No. NO,” she shouted and was about to run over to the two men, but Charles’s arm was around her waist again, and he pulled her back.
“Stop, let me go,” she snapped. “Why aren’t you upset about it?”
“Because they are lying. Norton knows quite well I am no fool and would have left my relatives behind with no protection. I arranged for the US marshals to protect my family. Two or three were assigned to always watch the house, and they would have arrested you two immediately if you had come even close to my aunt and uncle.”
Joy watched their eyes and the hatred that she saw, confirmed what Charles had just said. She sighed relieved.
“Go into the barn and lock yourself in,” Charles mumbled for only her to hear, but she shook her head.
“No.”
“Joy, do what I am telling you.”
“No, I won’t go.” She pressed her lips together, and Charles breathed through his teeth.
“So, how did you really find me?” she challenged, giving them a death stare.
The young man next to her scoffed. “You had someone watch and follow me. You knew the day we left where we went, but because you were still in prison and didn’t know how much security we would have around us, did not send anyone after us, but waited until your brother bribed the sheriff’s deputy and let you out, am I right?”
The astounding silence from the other two said it all. Charles had been right. “If that is all true, why did you come after me? You could have just escaped and lived somewhere until you die.” Joy was furious.
“And hide for the rest of our lives? Thanks to your father and you for handing those documents to Judge Lawson, we are wanted, and they are looking for us everywhere.”
“And you think by killing me that will change?” she shot back and raised an eyebrow.
“It will send out a message that anyone messing with us will not survive.”
Joy stared at the older man in pure disbelief. How had he become a lawyer when he believed something like that? She shook her head.
“You are a fool if you believe that,” she said bluntly. She heard several people behind her, spreading out, and the clicks that came with someone preparing their gun for shooting. It was obvious that some of the men from town, had now entered the picture.
Grateful for the backup, Joy scoffed. “Perhaps you should have stayed away from your daddy’s whiskey, if alcohol causes stupidity.”
Thatcher and Nigel stared at her dumbfounded, but the men behind them chuckled. Even Charles turned away and coughed to hide his grin.
It didn’t take long before their stunned expression became threatening. The men, who had come with them, also came closer.
“Joy, go in the barn, now,” Charles said through gritted teeth, but she wasn’t done yet. She was determined to get to the truth, and she wanted to hear it from her father’s former friend and attorney.
“I want to know why you murdered my parents. You’ve pretended to be their friend for all these years, what changed?” Her blue eyes had an icy fire burning, and she looked at Thatcher as if she was trying to stare into his soul.
“It doesn’t matter why. You’ll be dead soon, and many of your friends here will die with you.”
She looked around, not wanting any of that to happen, but closed her eyes and several flashbacks hit her at once. She saw the bribery notes and threats her father had received in her mind, and suddenly, it all made sense.
“You tried to bribe my father into making you a judge. You wanted to bypass being appointed and voted into office because you knew you wouldn’t get in any other way. You had corrupt politicians sent in bribes and threats, as well as other people.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he tried to defend himself, but Joy was fired up now.
“Your father wanted for you to be a judge so the corruption he and a few politicians had started could continue. They wanted you as a judge so you could look the other way or pardon the evil-doings you and the likes of you were doing and punish innocent people instead. Pa, never gave in and refused to acknowledge any of the bribes and threats.”
“How would you know any of this? Your father was supposed to keep the things in his job confidential.”
“And he did,” Joy shouted. “He never said anything to me. But when I was acting as his secretary, I saw a letter from you on his desk one day. I didn’t read the entire thing, just saw something that caught my eye, and that was you asking him to make him a judge without having people vote on it. Goodness, we should have seen that coming years ago. If Pa had shared his suspicions sooner, perhaps he would still be alive. But he probably had enough proof that you and your father were behind the bribes and threats.”
It was silent around them. Clearly, Charles and anyone listening in, had been caught off guard by Joy’s sudden enlightenment. If all of that was true, she had just solved most of the case.
“Did you threaten Judge Lawson, after you killed Pa?” Joy waited, her eyes never leaving the older man’s face, but Thatcher refused eye contact. “Did you? Did you threaten Judge Lawson?” she kept pushing and repeated it until Thatcher looked like he was about to explode.
“Yes, I did,” he yelled, looking at her with pure hatred. “We will kill you and everyone else who gets in our way, then go after Judge Lawson and if he doesn’t budge, find someone else. This is not over and never will be. You are responsible for the death of my father and many others who were on the family estate, and our revenge will be brutal. We are going to get power in California and Montana and more after that.”
“You are delusional, Norton,” she snapped loudly. “Evil will never win. It might get away with unspeakable things for a while, but good will triumph in the end.”
Fierceness was on her face and she clenched her fists before she continued. “I guess this makes us even now, huh? You killed my father and I made sure yours died too?”
Joy knew she was pushing his buttons and had just crossed a line, but she didn’t care any longer.
“Sheriff Baker, get Joy.” Charles called out suddenly. Joy turned around to see if her fatherly friend was truly there, and that was the moment he grabbed her by her legs and threw her over his shoulder, running to the barn, while the first shots were fired. He opened the door and dropped the young woman into a pile of hay.
“Stay here, and don’t come out again,” he growled while giving her a reproachful glance.
“Where did you come from? How are you here?” Her eyes were wide, and she was completely shocked by his appearance.
“We can talk about that later. Lock the barn door when I am outside.”
Before she had the chance to say something else, he had already left. Joy sighed, but jumped to her feet and reached for her father’s revolver she kept in her saddlebags before climbing up the wall of straw bales.
From the top window, she could see what was going on. She quietly opened it, just enough to stick the end of her gun through it, so she could shoot too if it were necessary. The men on both sides had found themselves a cover.
Joy watched as Dave hurried over to where Charles was. They hid behind some trees, while exchanging a few words.
Joy’s position gave her a great advantage in seeing what was going on. She noticed Nigel, who had snuck closer and was now at an angle in which he could shoot both Charles and her fatherly friend. She wasn’t going to let that happen.
As he lifted his rifle, and got in position, Joy aimed and fired two shots. One hit his hand, which caused him to drop the rifle, while the other shot went into his shoulder.
Joy didn’t use her gun skills to kill. She used it to protect herself and those around her, and to injure so the person trying to harm others could get arrested and punished.
Charles and Dave looked up to the window where she was and nodded to her. It was clear that even though Dave knew how good of a shooter she was, situations like this still impressed him.
She paid attention to what was going on. Nigel was cussing in pain, but she saw several US marshals coming closer.
Knowing this wasn’t the end of it, Joy climbed the straw bale wall back down and once she reached the floor, rushed to the back door of the barn and slipped out. This was something Charles had lectured her on over and over. He wanted to make it as difficult as possible for anyone trying to get to Joy.
She knew Vernon and his wife Jane were still out there, hiding in the background. She was determined to make it to the waterfall, Charles had shown her. It would provide her with a good hiding place if she reached it without being seen.
Most of the way was covered with thick bushes, shrubbery and trees.
It was easy to hide, but also see if danger was approaching her. It was the last few feet that would be an issue, since it was an open area. If she reached the waterfall, however, she could hide behind the water inside the rock.
Joy hated having to leave Charles and the other men behind, but she also knew the Norton’s were after her, and had to be careful with how much attention they got.
They knew once more people in town found out about them being there, it wouldn’t take much before they started sending out telegrams to ask for backup, if they hadn’t already done that.
It was quiet in the forest. Just the dripping of rain could be heard occasionally. Most of the ground was covered with moss, which swallowed her footsteps and also kept her safe from the mud.
Every time she heard a noise, she stopped and listened. The last thing she wanted to do was run into Lydia’s parents on accident.
When she finally saw and heard the waterfall, she took a deep breath. As she was getting ready to cross the open area, she heard voices and noticed several horses approaching the waterfall. She couldn’t see who it was, but knew she had to hide.
She looked around frantically, but nothing would be enough to really hide her if they were to look into the bushes. Joy almost gave up looking, when she came across a hollow tree trunk.
It was tall enough to cover her completely, but not too high for her to make climbing in it difficult. She looked around to see if there was anything near her, she could use to cover the top with, once she had climbed into the trunk, and chose a large chunk of moss.
She had barely made herself comfortable and had covered the hole on the top, when the horses came to a halt right in front of her. Luckily, the trunk had several small holes which allowed her to look through and see what was going on.
She heard more horses come closer and then recognized Brigham and Graham Harrison. Matt was with them too. A moment later, two more horses stopped next to them. Charles and Dave Baker.
Although, they spoke quietly with each other, she heard every word. She was about to make herself known, when Brigham said something she had not expected. It caused her entire world to collapse ...again.
“Charles, good to see you again.”
“Were you able to find them?”
“No.
We met a few marshals as we were searching the woods, and they hadn’t come across anyone either.”
“Did you see, Joy?” Charles asked, his eyes scanning the area.
“Not yet. Where is she?”
“She was supposed to run to the waterfall to hide. It was safe for her until this point. Here she has to cross, so she has to be careful.”
“Should we look for her,” Matt asked now, but Charles shook his head.
“We would draw attention to her if we did that. Perhaps we should split up. Matt, Graham, why don’t you check that area over there, we will be looking for the Norton’s around here.” He pointed past the waterfall, and the two young men left the group a moment later.
As Charles was about to continue his own search, Brigham held him back.
“Have you told Joy yet, who you are?”
The young man shook his head. “Not yet. I want to make sure she is safe once and for all.”
Brigham nodded. “Just don’t wait until someone else tells her, Son. Graham already broke her heart, she doesn’t need a betrayal from his older brother.”
“I’ll tell her as soon as it is safe to do so, Dad.”
Joy felt as if someone had just stabbed her in the stomach. She gasped for air, yet had to do it quietly, so nobody would see or hear her.
Tears shot into her eyes and she buried her face into her hands to drown out the sobs that she couldn’t suppress. Her heart ached. She couldn’t believe it.
Charles was Graham’s brother? He was the son of Brigham and Darlene? Why was he using the name Gregory? Were the reverend and Grace really his grandparents? Had Charles used her too? Had he only said the things he had said to her to make her trust him?
Joy shook her head. She should have never listened to her heart and should have paid more attention to her mind. She felt like screaming. Screaming out the pressure and hurt that began to settle in her stomach.
Charles had lied to her. He had pretended to be someone else, someone who wasn’t supposed to know the Harrison’s. How, had her father, found out about him?
How had she not seen the resemblance between Charles and his parents and siblings? Now, she saw it clearly, but before she simply hadn’t expected them to be related.
The more she attempted to make sense of herself and the situation, the more she felt like she was falling apart. It was time to stop thinking about it. She had to focus on the now to make it out of this alive.
It was quiet around her again, and so she climbed out of the tree trunk and peaked through the openings of the bush in front of her, when suddenly someone grabbed her from behind, covered her mouth and dragged her out and toward the waterfall.
All of that happened so fast, she had no chance to defend herself. When the person finally let her go, she found herself face to face with Vernon and Jane.
“Did you think you’d get away with this?” Vernon snapped, as he shoved her hard to the ground.
“Away with what?” Joy challenged and jumped back to her feet. “Trying to stay alive? I wasn’t the one practicing medicine without a license and stealing and selling babies.”
He scoffed. “You won’t be around for much longer. And your protectors won’t be able to help you this time. The forest is covered with men who work for us, and they will finish them off or hold them back until we’re done with you.”
“Great,” she snapped, making herself appear more confident than she felt. “Are you actually going to kill me this time, or is that just talk?”
“You arrogant little witch,” Jane snapped now and tried to grab Joy, but she was faster and stepped out of reach. “First you steal Lydia’s husband, and then you got her locked up in prison.”
Joy scoffed. “I didn’t steal anyone’s husband. The fact that you are still trying to play the victim and excuse your precious daughter of wrong-doing is simply getting ridiculous. And that she was arrested was her own fault. The judge warned her not to come back to Deer Lodge, but she did it anyway. Perhaps you should focus that your pathetic husband let his daughter run into the knife all by herself, and he didn’t even try to protect her. He was busy burning down my uncle’s house.”
“How did you manage to get out of that unharmed? Why aren’t Gerald and Eliza dead?” Vernon’s face was full of hatred and disdain.
“Maybe because it wasn’t just me who tried to end this and stop your criminal family.”
“I heard Graham didn’t choose you after all. That must have hurt, but what goes around, comes around, Honey,” Jane sneered.
“You messed with him while he was still married, he dumped you when he was free again.”
“So it seems,” Joy responded casually, her thoughts went back to Charles for a moment. Finding out that he had lied to her, was a lot more painful, even though she had thought that Graham had broken her heart.
She was determined to not let this evil couple get under her skin, though, but when they kept poking fun of her, still accusing her of having broken up the marriage, she couldn’t hold herself back any longer.
“At least I was only dumped by someone who, I thought, would court me. Lydia lost two husbands within minutes. If she wants to marry again, it will have to happen in prison.”
Jane screamed at her in outrage and charged at her again, but this time Joy was ready, caught the other woman around her waist and shoved her into the lake of the waterfall. The older woman came up spitting water, then started screaming and cussing again, and Joy just watched her.
Vernon tried to attack her now too, but Joy jumped out of the way at the last second, which ended him in the cold water as well.
With both of them out of the picture, Joy ran toward the waterfall, where the horses from the Norton’s were standing. She was about to mount one of the animals when someone pulled her back.
Before Joy had the chance to see who had grabbed her, the person behind her pressed a cloth on her face. She fought back, but suddenly, everything went black.